What was Never Finished
by thespace-dragon
Summary: Natsu and Lucy have been the dynamic duo since any one could remember. So when suddenly the two of them go their separate ways, how will the two of them handle being apart after being together for so long? Fluff and angst rolled into one fic. Enjoy.
1. Chapter 1

**Everyone buckleup, here comes my firstmultichap fic for Fairy Tail! Hope you guys enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 1

"Alright, class! Today's assignment is to write a one-page paper about your parents. You have today's class to work on it. It'll be due by the end of the week!" Miss Albarn announced after the morning announcements were finished.

They had been working on describing people for the past couple of days now and this was to be their final assignment for the section.

Lucy winced slightly at the thought of writing about her father. He had been cold to her ever since…

Lucy shook her head. No, she wasn't going to think about that now. She had to focus on her schoolwork.

Small talk broke out around her, everyone bragging about their parents and what their jobs were. Lucy didn't really want a lot of people knowing about her father's business. Well, everyone technically already did, everyone knew about the Heartfilia Co. but no one knew the only daughter of Jude Heartfilia was attending public school. It had been her mother's wish to send her to public school like she had. Jude had advocated private schooling or even homeschooling, but Layla Heartfilia had been quite adamant about it. So here sat Lucy in public school, struggling to find friends. Wasn't public school supposed to be this haven for friend making?

Lucy sighed and pulled out her notebook and began to write. Class was going to be boring if she didn't get any work done. It turned out that she was the only one to have started writing. Her neighbor peeked over and saw her writing and started to talk to her.

"Who ya writing about?" he asked.

Lucy glanced over at him. "Just my dad," She said quietly.

"Huh? Just your dad?"

Lucy nodded, secretly hoping for the boy to leave her alone with her work.

"What about your mom?"

Lucy stopped writing but didn't look at the boy either. "M-my momma is… she's gone."

The boy blinked at her. "Gone? As in, like dead?"

Lucy closed her eyes, trying not to cry. It hadn't been very long since her mother had passed away and the pain she was feeling in her heart was still quite raw. It had been all over the news for a week when Layla had died, but her father had kept Lucy out of the spotlight to save her from the paparazzi. It was one of the last kind acts her father ever did for her.

"She's dead isn't she?" the boy pressed.

Lucy nodded meekly, going back to her assignment. If she was able to ignore the boy she would be able to finish the assignment by the end of the class.

"How'd she die?"

"She was sick." Lucy really wanted to tell this boy to go away. He was the loudmouth of the class and was really starting to get on her nerves.

"Oh, well that sucks. My mom has never gotten sick, even though I have a lot. She's always there to take care of me and stuff…" Lucy ignored the rest of what the boy was saying. She didn't want to listen to him rant about how great his mom was. Her momma was ten times better than his, but she couldn't very well say that when he already knew she was gone.

Lucy flinched when she saw a tear fall onto her paper. When did she start crying?

The boy was still yapping her ear off when someone else from across her table started speaking.

"Oi, you made her cry!" It was the pink haired boy, who was the other loud mouth of the class. But Lucy never thought he was annoying, in fact, she thought he was quite funny.

The other boy stopped talking and glared at the other boy. "It's not my fault that she's still crying about her mommy!"

The pink haired boy tugged his scaled scarf out of his face, narrowing his eyes at the other. "Well, you kept goin' on an' on about yours. Can't ya tell she just wanted to work on her paper alone?"

The boy cast a look at Lucy, she kept her head down, though, trying to hold back the tears. Class should be ending soon, then she would be free of this crazy situation.

"What? We were just having a friendly conversation!"

"Yeah right! You just kept talking while she started cryin'!"

Lucy just wished this whole thing would blow over, like if she could just melt into the floor right now that would be great.

The bell rang and Lucy was free. Quickly grabbing all of her things and tossing them into her bag, she escaped the room with the arguing boys.

Lucy breathed out a sigh of relief. It was stressful to listen to two people argue. The last time her mother had spoken had been an argument with her father about where she would go to school. After that, she had been in and out of the hospital and Lucy couldn't go see her. Her father wouldn't take her when she asked.

Lucy walked quietly to her next class. She was always the quiet one in class, and she preferred to keep it that way. She didn't need any loud mouth boys keeping her from her silent march through school.

* * *

Lucy made it to lunch unscathed from any more drama, and she was thankful. But now came the most stressful part of her day on a regular basis: lunch.

The lunch room was packed full of kids her age. All the tables full and all the cliques together. Ranging from sports to the band nerds, everyone had their place.

Everyone but her.

Lucy made her way to a corner, found an open seat, sat down and began to eat her packed lunch in silence.

She wasn't all that bothered by being alone, she was used to it. At home, she was left to her own devices too. Her father had nothing to do with her, and the maids in the house only helped a little with her isolation. It was somewhat better at school, but no one would talk to her and she had no idea how to reach out to them. Her father never let her have friends over. Well, if she had-

"Hiya!"

Lucy jumped and looked up to find the pink haired boy with the scarf standing across from her.

"U-uh, hi?" she offered.

The boy gave her a fanged smile, squeezing his eyes shut and tilting his head to the side. "My name's Natsu! What's yours?"

"L-lucy…"

"Well, Luce, I wanted ta say I took care of that guy who was botherin' ya in class today." He stood there so proud of his accomplishment that Lucy couldn't hold back the giggle that escaped her.

"Oh, well, um, you didn't have to do that. It was fine, really," she said. "But thank you anyways." She offered him a small smile.

"Sure thing, Luce!" He sat down across from her. She noticed he didn't have any food and he was staring hungrily at hers.

Lucy didn't have much of an appetite to begin with so she pushed some of her food towards him. "Here, have some."

"Aw, sweet! Thanks, Luce! You'll make the best friend I've ever had!"

Friend? His best friend?

Lucy blushed a little, suddenly shy with his statement. He would be her first friend here. She couldn't deny him, could she?

"Ya know, I bet my cat, Happy, would love ta meet ya," Natsu mumbled around the food in his mouth.

"Huh?" A cat named Happy?

"Yeah! He's my other best friend," Natsu gave her another one of his fanged smiles, all teeth, causing the rest of his face to scrunch up.

Lucy decided this boy was going to be her friend. After months of traversing through this school with no one to talk to, he was the first to go out of his way to talk to her.

Maybe a pink haired loudmouth wasn't the worst thing in the world right now.

* * *

 **So.. what do ya think? Leave a review please!**

 **Until next time,**

 **Mogey**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey, everyone! I'm back! Thank you all so much for the support with the first chapter, it really means a lot. But without further ado, here's the next chapter!**

* * *

Chapter 2

Over the next few weeks, Lucy and Natsu became fast friends. They met up in between their classes, Natsu walking her to every single one of hers and then hurrying off to his own. Lucy felt that she was finally able to be happy again. She found herself smiling more often. And honestly, she had no idea how to repay him for being her friend.

Natsu was able to make her laugh by simply smiling. Lucy had read enough to know she was being really cliché, but she couldn't help it. Natsu was funny, friendly, and was the only person to finally make her feel happy again.

There had been a long stretch of time after her mother's death where Lucy just locked herself away. Her father hadn't paid her any mind, and even though the maids tried their best to get the little princess to let them into her walled off castle, Lucy had simply ignored them. It had only been half a year since Layla had passed away, and for three months of that, Lucy had locked herself away in her room, only coming out for the silent meals with her father. Nothing had changed when she started school either.

That is, until, Natsu happened.

Lucy couldn't keep the smile off her face. Natsu was a character, that was for sure.

She smothered a giggle as she worked on perfecting her two-handed scales on the piano. Music class was her favorite time of the day. Mr. Evans was a great music teacher, even though what he played for them on the first day had sounded sad. To be honest, Lucy actually teared up from the piece because it made her think of her mother once more, causing more than a few other students to stare at her. Since then, she had tried her best to keep her emotions under wraps, but since Natsu burst into her life, the box of emotions she had locked away was slowly starting to open itself.

Lucy ran her hands through the C major scale, loving the way the piano she had picked out for the day sounded. It was actually one of the few that was still in tune. Middle schoolers were rough on any type of instrument, and it was a wonder to her that Natsu was still allowed into the band room considering he was constantly breaking the percussion equipment.

The thought of Natsu breaking another set of sticks caused her to huff in amusement. Lucy knew if she ever asked her father to get her a piano for home, he would do it without a question asked. But her father had the money simply lying around, gathering interest in the banks. Where his parents got the money to keep buying snare sticks was beyond her.

Lucy stumbled through another scale just as Mr. Evans walked by. He pattered her head and muttered a 'you'll get it next time' and continued walking around the class. Lucy nodded to herself and continued to work her way through the next scale.

Before she knew it, the bell was ringing, but she was determined to get this E-flat scale down before she left. Her next period was lunch today and it didn't bother her if she was late to that.

"Oi, Luuuuccyyyy! We got lunch, come on, let's go!"

Natsu had barged into the room, impatient as always. She had found that out very quickly when after she became friends with him. He waved to Mr. Evans as he made his way through the room, stopping by Lucy as she stumbled through the scale once more.

"Darn it!" Lucy pushed down random keys, creating a storm of notes in her frustration.

"Luce, you can work on it later, let's go, we're missing out on lunch!"

Lucy had also found out that Natsu thinks with his stomach. There was going to be no changing that.

"Go, I'll catch up with you once I get this down." She waved him off as she started to push down the keys to the scale with one hand.

Natsu already had her things slung over his shoulder when he huffed at her, and started grabbing her hand to pull her away from the piano.

"The piano will be there tomorrow." He said over his shoulder. "And lunch is only a half hour. You've wasted ten minutes of it already!"

"B-But Natsu!" she wailed as he dragged her out of the room, trying in vain to stop her whirlwind of a friend.

"Take care, Lucy! And Natsu!" Mr. Evans called out as the two of them left the room.

Lucy gave up fighting Natsu as the door closed behind them. Lunch was the most important time of the day for Natsu and he always insisted on her sitting next to him, as he stuffed his face full of food.

At least, he sat her with a group of his own friends too, so it wasn't just her being grossed out by his abysmal manners. There was another boy and two girls that they sat with. Erza, the first girl Natsu had introduced her to, gave off an older sister vibe. She was a grade ahead of them, but because she was a math tutor for the younger grades, she ate lunch with the rest of them. The next person Natsu had introduced her to was Gray.

He was…odd. He was a perfectly normal person except he had this really strange habit of losing things. And they could vary from simple school supplies to his clothes. Lucy liked him well enough even though he took on this big brother roll with her, despite her repeatedly saying that she didn't need a big brother figure. He never listened and butted heads with Natsu all the time. It was rare for the two of them to not be arguing about something, sometimes escalating to actually throwing their fists at each other, but Erza was always there to break the two of them up. Yup, she was the older sister alright.

The last person was Lucy's favorite out of the group. Well, besides Natsu. Levy McGarden was a sweetheart who loved books just as much, if not more so, as Lucy. She was always reading something, and Lucy had yet to see her without her nose stuck in some book. They were always able to hold a conversation, talking about school, or a book either of them had read and the other hadn't. It was easy to get along with Levy, and Lucy was thankful that at least one person in the group was normal.

Well, not that the others weren't, but they had taken some getting used to. Natsu tried his best to shield her from some of the craziness.

But, it wasn't enough. Even with Natsu "shielding" her, things still managed to get out of hand, and fast. Like that one time, Lucy watched dumbstruck as Natsu launched himself across the table at Gray for mumbling something about him having ash for brains. Or the time the boys had accidentally spilled Erza's strawberry milk over her tray of food… Just remembering the look on Erza's face and the tone of her voice was enough to make Lucy shudder. First impressions had a different meaning to her than they did to them apparently.

Natsu sat her down at the table before running off to get his own food from the kitchens. Though Lucy knew he would finish all of his food and then ask for her own leftovers before she was even half done.

"Hey, Lucy!" Levy chirped as she looked up from her book.

"Hey, Levy. What are you reading this time?" Lucy replied as she pulled out her lunch. She could have sworn that Levy had a different book every day.

"Oh, umm," she picked up the book to read off the spine, "'The Demon King' by Cinda Williams Chima, it's really good so far!" Levy was actually close to three-fourths of the way through the book already.

"Really? Can I borrow it once you're done?"

Levy gave her a bright smile, "By the end of the day, you'll be walking home with it."

Lucy beamed. "Thanks, Levy!"

With that, Levy returned to her book, nibbling at her own lunch while she lost herself to the fantasy novel, and Lucy ate as much of the food prepared by her maids for her as she could. At least, she could rely on Natsu to consume the rest of it so her maids wouldn't wonder if she was eating enough.

Erza and Gray muttered their hellos as soon as she was done talking with Levy, respecting that book talk would always happen between those two first. Lucy responded just as she had with Levy, giving them a bright smile and a happy hello in return.

Natsu returned to the table, slamming his overfilled tray down. His face was already puffed out from the food he had eaten on the way over. Lucy could only imagine where he managed to hide away all that food. Didn't he know that if he kept eating like that he would get fat?

"Lushi, faht's fo impophant bout dat schale you was wohkin' on?" the pink haired boy asked once he sat down.

Lucy rolled her eyes, he would never learn. "Natsu, swallow your food before you talk!" she reprimanded anyways.

Natsu pouted and ducked his chin into his scaled scarf, swallowing. "Jeez, no need to be mean about it," he mumbled.

"I wasn't being mean and you know it!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, Luigi."

"Wha- urgghh- My name is Lu-cy! Not, not Lui-gi!" God, she hated that nickname.

Natsu cackled at her, and it donned on her that he was trying to get her mad on purpose.

Natsu was a prankster, a mild one, but still a prankster. Lucy puffed out her cheeks and turned away from him. Not giving him the satisfaction of riling her up.

This is what served as a normal day, minus the ten-minute wait for her to try to figure out a piano scale. Lucy was still a little grumpy about that, but there was nothing she could do about it now until her next time in class.

Natsu huffed at her, sulking when she caught onto his plan. He turned back to his food and resumed stuffing his face until it was all gone.

Lunch carried on as normal, a minor spat between Natsu and Gray, Levy flipping pages with a fury as she read her book,Erza sipping at her strawberry milk like it was a delicacy. Lucy smiled at the scene of her friends sitting beside her. Who would have ever thought she would have friends the way she had been going?

* * *

What Levy said at lunch was true. Lucy was walking home with 'The Demon King' in her hands. Well, riding home. Her father had refused to let her use public transportation to get home, instead having a chauffeur take her to and from school. The driver, Daniel, was nice enough, and always carried on a polite conversation with her as he drove her around.

Natsu didn't know that Lucy did not ride the bus. She always said good-bye to him out on the sidewalk in front of the buses, before going back inside to head for the front office where her driver was waiting to sign her out. Another protocol her father had insisted upon with the school. Signing her in, and signing her out. It seemed like he didn't trust anyone in the outside world.

Lucy learned to accept it. There wasn't anything she could do. She was twelve, almost thirteen, but her father still treated her like a child whenever he had to interact with her.

The trip home was quiet today. Lucy was too enthralled with her new book, shoving her nose into it as soon as she was seated in the car and buckled. She was certain that once she got all of her homework done, and dinner was over, she was going to be reading this book until her bed time. Already the characters were captivating and she had lost herself to the movie now playing in her head, making the ten-minute ride home seem like seconds.

"Miss, we're home," Daniel said.

Lucy jumped, the movie falling off its reel. "Oh, okay, thank you."

Time to go back to a cold reality.

She gathered her things and exited the car, walking up to the large house she called home. Making her way inside, she was greeted by silence. The maids were flitting around, dusting off anything that could have gathered dust that day. Lucy had no idea why her father had them cleaning everything every day. How much dust could something gather in a twenty-four hour period?

Lucy walked up to her room quietly, not wanting to cause noise, lest she disturb her father while he was working. Ever since her mother died, he got angry with her for every little thing. She had no choice but to abide by the suddenly strict rules governing the house.

She walked into her room and sat down at her desk. Time to start on her homework.

* * *

 **Welp, there we have it. Another installment to this nice little fic we got going here.**

 **Now, I know I have this labeled as angst. Just let me get there. I have planned this fic out to be a slow burn. Hope y'all don't mind that. ^.^**

* * *

 **Reviews:**

 **Lucie:** _Thank you so much! Hope you enjoyed this next chapter! :)_

 **DancingWithSeatbelts:** _Love the name by the way. Anywho, yup, cute so far isn't? Hehe, we'll find out who the jerk is in a few chapters. He's not going away quite yet...And yeah, I'm leaving some easter eggs from other animes/mangas in here. Some will be obvious, others, mmm, not so much. Glad you enjoyed!_

 **ClosetFangirl-chan:** _Does this chapter answer your question? Haha, but no, it is not Gray, although he still argues with Natsu as often as he does in canon. Glad you enjoyed!_

 **Nechochwen:** _I really appreciate the kind words, and thanks for putting up with all of my madness. xD_

* * *

 **Alright, well that's a wrap for this chapter. Let me know what you think! (I'm a sucker for puns, so if you leave one in a review I will love you forever)**

 **And I should mention that I do not own anything regarding Fairy Tail, or The Demon King novel. (If I did, I wouldn't be sitting here writing fanfiction xD)**

 **Until next time!**

 **Mogey**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey everyone, I'm back! Sorry for the long wait. Balancing other fics and school is getting kinda of rough. But summer is just around the corner! Yay!**

* * *

Chapter 3

Weeks flew by, and Lucy was feeling more and more like her old self. She smiled more, laughing along with the others during lunch or the classes they shared. She even took to talking with the maids again, becoming a presence within her own home once more. For the longest time, she had merely been a ghost, floating through the hallways whenever she grew tired of staying in her room. She still did that from time to time, but now it was so infrequent that the guards no longer had to worry about her wandering the hallways at night.

Lucy skipped through the hallways, a cheerful smile on her face. Her father's birthday was at the end of the week, and she was hoping that she could make something for him in her art class. They were wrapping up a lesson and were given the choice to continue working on their current projects or to make something new.

Lucy knew exactly what she was going to do.

She had a plan to draw out a family portrait, one that would include her, her father, and her mother, all together when they had once been happy. An actual photo from one of those times was currently in her backpack, she was going to use it as a reference for when she started to draw.

Today was going to be a good day for her.

No, make that a good week.

Entering the art room, Lucy made her way to her seat. She pulled out the picture and set it gently on the table in front of her and waited for the teacher to set them loose. This week, her art class was basically a free period. Actually, scratch that, it was a free class all the time. The teacher, Ms. Naktsukasa, gave them a brief rundown of the lesson they were supposed to be working on and then let them create whatever they wanted after that. Sure, they had guidelines for each lesson, but Ms. Naktsukasa never really enforced them. She believed in the creativity of the pieces her students were working on and graded them accordingly. Despite the rarely enforced rules, Lucy always took it upon herself to follow the guidelines and create something from that.

And since her project was done, something about 3-D objects and shading, Lucy wanted to try her hand at something a little more complicated and have it as a present for her father on his birthday. She wasn't going to be graded on this piece, but she still wanted to make it as perfect as can be. It was for her father after all.

Soon enough the bell rang and the class settled down. Ms. Naktsukasa addressed the class, but only a few minutes into the class announcement, Gray bursts into the classroom, out of breath and…shirtless.

Everyone froze.

Gray stood in the doorway, looking like a deer in headlights now.

"Um, Gray, why is your shirt missing?" Ms. Naktsukasa asked, concerned while and a light flush from secondhand embarrassment spread across her cheeks.

The class devolved into giggles and whispers, and Lucy could only sigh at the pettiness of her classmates. Why must middle schoolers only think about gossip and drama?

Gray was still frozen in the doorway, still holding the door open, as he realized that he was in fact, shirtless.

"Uh, I-I just came from gym?" The crack in his voice made his excuse sound like a question, and the classroom's giggles went up a level.

"Ah, well, Gray, did you happen to forget to change back into your normal t-shirt?"

Gray stepped into the room sheepishly, letting the door close behind him. He gripped the straps of his bag, hanging onto it as he fought the blush that was staining his cheeks. Lucy felt bad for him, but she didn't know how to get the class to stop whispering about him being an exhibitionist. It was already bad enough that he forgot everything at least once, and now this was just fueling the rumors flying around about him.

Lucy caught his attention when he looked around the room for atleast one sympathetic face. Unfortunately that was only her at the moment.

"Miss, is it, uh, is it okay if me and Lucy go back to get it?" he asked quietly.

Their teacher blinked, but she held a gentle smile on her face when she turned around to fill out a pass for the both of them. She let Gray leave his bag at the front of the room while calling for Lucy to go with him. It was sort of a school policy that students had to be paired up when they walk through the halls during class times. It didn't quite make sense but Lucy was never one to really question the rules. She left that to Natsu. He was the one to push the boundaries, not Lucy.

They made their way through the hallways. Gray was quiet but Lucy wasn't going to push him to talk. Today wasn't his day. He had left his bag on the bus this morning and the school had to call it back so he could have his school things. On top of that he forgot all of his homework due today, so now many of his grades were going to go down. And now after gym, where Coach Star works them to death, he forgets to put his shirt back on. The poor guy.

"So, what did you do in gym today?" Lucy asked as they turned the corner.

The locker rooms were on the other side of the school and they were only just now passing the cafeteria. He had been silent the whole time.

Gray put his arms behind his head, completely at ease with being shirtless now, but had a frown on his face none the less. It must have something to do with being the center of attention Lucy supposed.

"Nothing much. He had us play basketball again," Gray mumbled.

Lucy thought it was funny that Gray was always loud and obnoxious with Natsu around, but as soon as Natsu was out of the picture, he was actually kind of shy. The first time she had witnessed this had been a shock to her. She had honestly thought that Gray was just the cooler version of Natsu. Seriously, Natsu was a hothead.

"Really? We have been playing basketball for three weeks now!" Lucy complained. She really sucked at basketball and having Coach Star make them play it all the time was taking the fun out of it.

"At least you don' have'ta put up with Loke." Gray grimaced. "He was bein' an ass today."

Oh gosh, Loke. The class flirt. She had had a couple run-ins with him. Lucy shuddered just thinking about it. They were only middle schoolers and he already had more girlfriends than Lucy cared to keep track of.

Lucy didn't bother to comment about Loke, letting the conversation die out as they reached the boys locker room. There was no need. He was a nuisance and both she and Gray knew that from experience, no need to confirm it again.

A few minutes later, they were on their way across the school again, Gray fully clothed. But that was when Lucy noticed something different was missing now.

"Gray? Where are your shoes?"

"Aaaahhh! I forgot them again?"

He took off down the hallway they had just left. Lucy stood there, feeling a slight breeze from his sudden departure. How was this boy making it through school if he was constantly forgetting something? Did he forget to eat too?

A few seconds later Gray was back with his shoes…but now something else was missing.

Gray kept walking forward as Lucy was rooted in her spot.

His pants were missing.

But his shoes were still on.

How was he a functioning person?

"G-Gray!" Lucy hissed, "Your p-pants!"

Lucy felt her cheeks light themselves on fire as she caught sight of his boxers. She clapped her hands to her face, covering her eyes. She was too young for this!

Gray bit off a curse. "Hold on, I'll be back. Again."

Lucy was too mortified to actually respond with anything. She just hoped that he came back with all of his clothes this time.

A moment later, Gray was back. All articles of clothing on his person. And they were on their merry way again.

They still avoided eye contact.

* * *

Lucy and Gray made it through the rest of art class without losing anything more. She managed to get the rough sketch of her drawing down and she hoped by next class it would be finished. Her father's birthday was at the end of the week. She needed to have it ready.

Lucy walked to lunch and was confronted with Natsu and Gray at each other's throats, no Erza in sight. Levy was at the other end of the table, reading away like normal while Natsu and Gray yelled at each other.

"You Pervy Popsicle! Why was you strippin' in front of Luce?"

"It wasn't on purpose, you Pyro!"

Lucy facepalmed and sighed. When weren't those two making a scene?

They both fell to the ground, wrestling each other, throwing insults back and forth. The rest of the student body ignored the two of them, way too used to it by now.

Lucy sat down next to Levy. She heaved a sigh, exasperated with her friends. No way was she getting in the middle of that.

"Oi, Luce!"

Never mind. She was going to be dragged into anyways.

"Yes, Natsu?" She smiled as sweetly as she could. She would rather avoid this topic entirely. Both she and Gray were embarrassed about it. But the other boy would never admit to that.

"Why'd Ice Cube show off his boxers to ya?" Currently, Natsu had Gray pinned to the floor, finger in his mouth and pulling at his cheek.

Gray rolled his eyes and tried to speak but his extended cheek made it really hard to understand him. Natsu conked him on the head, shutting him up.

Lucy sighed. "It was an accident, Natsu, don't worry about it."

"How is stripping an accident? There's no way he did that on accident!" Natsu argued, tugged on Gray's face for good measure.

Lucy's brow twitched. Seriously, couldn't he let this go, just for this once?

"Have you met Gray? He's losing things all the time. I'm pretty sure he would lose his head if it weren't attached."

A garbled 'Hey!' came from Gray but before Natsu could shut him up again, their worst nightmare showed up.

Erza.

"Why are the two of you fighting?" she growled, holding her tray in a tight grip. Lucy could almost feel the aura of death rolling off of her as she glared at the Natsu and Gray.

"U-u-uhhh, it w-wa-was j-just a-a friend-dly sc-sc-scuffle, E-Erza!" Gray managed, finally freeing his cheek from Natsu's torture.

"A-aye!" Natsu chirped, scurrying off of Gray and kneeling down in front of the angry redhead. Gray followed suit as fast as he could.

Erza _hmphed_ and turned her eye to Lucy and Levy. Both of the girls flinched under the pressure of her gaze, but Levy spoke up, giving her the explanation before their older classmate bashed some heads in.

"Gray somehow stripped in front of Lucy and Natsu found out about it was trying to reprimand him." Not exactly what had happened, but Lucy hadn't had the chance to tell her the whole story yet.

"Is that so?" The math tutor turned back to the two cowering boys.

They hugged each other in fear, and Lucy felt a giggle bubble up.

Erza set calmly set her tray, grabbed both of the boys by their shirt fronts, and shook them like rag dolls. The lecture was coming for sure, but it was always the same thing. Gray would be chastised for losing his clothes. Natsu…well he got yelled at for anything really. Besides losing his clothes. He was safe from that habit.

Lucy tuned out the three of them and turned back to her lunch. Levy was zoned into her book and was not bothering to talk to anyone. Soon enough, Erza joined the two girls, sipping at her strawberry milk as always. Natsu and Gray were knocked out on the floor, piled together out of the way.

The rest of lunch passed without incident after that. Eventually, Natsu and Gray woke up and crawled back to the table, whining about how Erza beat them for no reason. Natsu was pouting into his scarf. Gray was sulking by toying with his food.

"Luce, why didn't you back me up?" Natsu muttered.

Lucy glanced over at him. "Because Gray did nothing wrong, Natsu."

Natsu jumped out of his seat. "But he was walkin' aroun' in his underwear near you! That ain't right!"

"Sit down," she tugged him into his seat by his scarf and gave him a pointed look. "Look, it's not that big of a deal, and it wasn't for long."

"That doesn't make it right, though!"

Gray pounded a fist on the table. "Oi, Flame for Brains, just leave it alone, it got nothin' to do with ya!"

"I wasn't talkin' ya, Popsicle Stick!" Natsu growled back.

"You wanna g-"

"Are you two fighting again?" Erza asked with a low voice.

"No, ma'am!"

Lucy giggled at their chorus. Erza somehow always kept them in line. Lucy wondered why that was, but never got the chance do go too deep into those thoughts. The bell rang and it was onto the rest of her day.

* * *

The rest of the week came and went. It was Friday now and Lucy was finally done with her self-imposed art project. She had received high praise from Ms. Naktsukasa about her drawing and was excited to go home and present it to her father. She was sure that he had been working hard all day. Hopefully, this would make him smile a little. He hasn't smiled since her mother died.

Daniel was driving her home now. She had proudly shown him her work and he had smiled the brightest she had even seen. The driver had been stoic, but in that moment, Lucy was able to make him smile.

Lucy had a smile on her face the whole ride home, enjoying the sunny autumn day. The school day had been great. Gray had managed to keep all his clothes on. Natsu managed not to break anything in the band room this time. He had beamed the whole day after Lucy hugged him for curbing some of his destructive habits. Erza had also praised the boys in math, they had earned high marks on their last test. Lucy and Levy had aced it, no problem. The two boys had trouble focusing most of the time, but Erza was there to whip them into shape. Levy had also given Lucy another book to read. This new one was the first installment of the Chronicle of Nick series, and once again Lucy was hooked from the get go. But she was holding off from reading it today.

Today was her father's day, she was going to spend time with him.

Daniel pulled into the driveway and stopped at the front door of their home. The long pathway led to a personal round-a-bout for their property and it made it much easier for Lucy to get to school. There were some perks from having a personal driver. The first being she would never have to walk the driveway in the snow. The next would be, she had more time to get ready in the mornings, and Lucy liked to take time with her hair. Levy let her curls be tamed by a bandana and Erza's was always perfect, despite frequently 'instructing' Natsu and Gray throughout the day.

Lucy scrambled out of the car. She wanted to show her father her present as soon as possible. The drawing was safe in her backpack after showing Daniel. She didn't want to risk it getting creased or ripped.

Practically running up the stairs, she made her way to her room to put away her things and pull out the drawing. She had worked so hard on this.

It was her rendition of a family photo. Her mother and father were standing behind Lucy while she herself sat in a plush chair. It was outside the family home, a statue rising up from behind them. Flower pots sat on either side of them, housing beautiful red peonies. Layla was dressed in a gorgeous pink ball gown, specifically for this picture, her hair pinned up in a classy bun, with a peony over her heart.

Jude was dressed a smart brown suit, letting Layla's pink gown pop with color next to him. He wore a red tie, matching the flower she was wearing.

Lucy sat in the middle, roughly the age of six or seven. She didn't quite remember how old she was in this picture but she was much younger. In the photo, she was sitting in the chair, holding her doll, Michelle. She was dressed a small pink dress, a few shades darker than her mother's gown. Lucy and Layla were both smiling gently in the photo while Jude held a stern, but content look on his face. He wasn't quite frowning, but his mustache made him look like he was.

He still had that mustache, keeping the same look for years now. That faint frown that he had in the picture had turned permanent, but today Lucy was determined to make him smile again.

Compared to the photo her drawing wasn't much, but it was created to the best of her ability, and even though some of the proportions were off, she was quite proud of her work.

Smiling to herself, she walked with purpose to her father's study. Knowing him, he had probably worked all day, taking no breaks, not even to eat. Maybe she would make him a snack after she showed him the picture.

She knocked on the door to his study. Lucy waited for his muffled reply to be heard through the door, but none came. Lucy knocked one more time, wanting to make sure she wasn't interrupting a meeting or anything. It had happened a few times before when she had barged into the room, wanting to see her father, only to find out that there were multiple other businessmen in the room with her father.

But there was no talk coming from the room, so her father couldn't be in a meeting. Even on the phone, his voice was in a register that allowed it to naturally carry.

Lucy slowly cracked the door open, peeking inside to find her father bent over his desk. He was scribbling away on documents. Jude always wore a suit and tie, despite the fact that he didn't leave their home for this business. The computer screen was off in the corner of the desk. The desk itself was currently covered in various documents, one pile leading to another.

She slowly approached his desk, nervous now that he was so intently working, but she couldn't wait to show him the present she worked on all week.

"Papa?"

Her father didn't even bother to look up. He just kept writing.

Lucy gulped. It was too late to back out now.

"Papa, I made you something." Her voice was quiet, but in the silent study, she might as well be yelling.

Her father still didn't respond.

Lucy stood in front of his desk, clutching at her drawing, but was careful not to bend the sides of it. "I remembered your birthday, Papa, so I made you something. Do you want to see?"

Her question was met with silence.

She continued on, hoping for some acknowledgment. "I know we both miss Momma a lot, so I made something to help remind us of her. And so you can see us all together a-all the time." Lucy inched closer to the desk and peeked at the papers strewn across it.

They were all legal documents, and they all made no sense to her. But she looked as a spot that was, for the most part, untouched and she placed her drawing there.

"I-I'm going to leave it here s-so you can see it before dinner."

Jude snapped his eyes to the picture, they were ablaze with a fury she didn't know he had.

He snatched it up, knocking over the stack it was on, crumpling her hard work in his hand.

"LUCY! I am working! Can you not see that? I don't have time for this frivolous thing!" he roared at her.

Lucy skittered backward, away from the desk. Her eyes were wide with fear. Why was he yelling at her? She was just trying to be nice. She was quiet like he had asked so many times. She was polite, just like she was taught from an early age. What had she done wrong?

"Papa, I-I'm sor-"

"Lucy, I will not tolerate this behavior! I did not give you permission to speak. I did not give you permission to enter my study. Why are you in here if I did not give you the right to be?" His face was red with rage. Her drawing now ruined in his hand, crumpled beyond repair.

"I-It's your b-birthday, so I w-wanted to give you a p-present…" she managed to squeak out.

Her heart was going a mile a minute. She knew better than to enter his study without his permission, and that had been stupid on her part. But it was his birthday, can't he make an exception to the rules, just this once?

"I do not need a present!" he shouted. "Can you not see that I am busy?"

He ripped the drawing in half. Lucy felt her heart break. Her week's worth of work was forever ruined now. She hiccupped, the tears gathering at the corners of her eyes as she watched her father continue to tear up something that she had been proud enough to show him.

"A present like this holds no worth! There is no point in having an object like this. It is trash and does not belong in my presence." The picture was now thoroughly shredded.

Jude threw the handfuls of paper out away from him, his teeth bared like an animal. The pieces scattered and landed at Lucy's feet. Her tears started to fall, rolling down her cheeks. She gasped for breath as her father continued to rant before her, going on and on about how important it was to have things of value and how what she had just presented to him held no value what so ever. All of his words cut into her like small blades, leaving each their own mark on her heart.

She stared at the ground, the bits of pink and red that she could see were blurred together as she stared at the mess her father had made of her artwork. Her fists were clenched her sides and she struggled not to run from this horrifying man in front of her. She would just be called back for an even greater punishment for not letting him finish what he was saying.

"What do you have to say for yourself? Why would you give me something so worthless?" he asked, fuming. His own breathing was heavy, large puffs of air escaping from his flared nostrils.

Lucy swallowed a sob and answered her father, "It's y-your bi-birth-d-day…I wanted t-to give you som-something that reminded you o-of both me and M-Momma."

"I have no need for such a thing. I have that photograph on the wall. A drawing of such low quality will never be a worthy gift for anyone. How dare you insinuate that I would accept such an unworthy gift!" He leaned on his desk, palms spread against all of his papers.

"B-But, Papa, I-"

"Leave. Dinner will be brought to your room. You're grounded."

Dismissed finally, Lucy ran from the room. She was so blinded by tears that she didn't see one of the maids that was walking through the hallway as she exited the study. She ran into her, but thankfully she didn't knock the other person over. Mumbling her apologies, she escaped to her room, ignoring the calls of concern from the other house help.

Lucy locked herself in her room. She tripped over her bag that she had haphazardly placed in the center of her room. She fell to the ground, her sobs unrelenting as she voiced her frustration and hurt.

Why had her father been so mean? She had done something nice for him.

Why had he yelled at her about worthless gifts?

Why was her gift considered worthless?

Why…?

Why?

She curled herself into a ball on the floors, crying as hard as she did when her mother died.

Why did her father make her feel so worthless?

* * *

 **And there we have it. To be honest, I lowkey made myself cry with this last part.**

* * *

 **Welp, moving onto reviews!**

 **DancesWithSeatbelts:** _Maybe I am maybe I'm not, we will continue to see. xD (Clearly I did with this chapter) I'm really proud of the modern adaptation of Gray that I've come up with. Too many times, it's just him losing his clothes, and it doesn't feel realistic in modern AUs. So here we have Gray losing everything, including his clothes. Thanks for the pun, it was great!_

 **Bloodrayne766:** _Thank you for enjoying it! Hope you enjoyed this chapter as well. As for length, I'm not sure how long this is going to go. I am taking my time with it to have character development, because who isn't a sucker for that? xD_

 **Guest:** _Nope, no other Natsu, just the one and only. And I'm glad you liked it!_

 **Akamagerain:** **** _Haha, I was smiling as I wrote up their introductions too! Did I give you enough angst in this chapter? xD_

* * *

 **Ok, that's all I got! Thanks so much to all that reviewed and fav/followed. Really appreciate all the attention you're giving this fic. I know updates are kind slow, but bear with me. I'm writing another fic alongside this one and I have another that I need to get started, so be on the look out for that as well.**

 **There's also finals coming up, so I may drop off the radar for a week or so to study my butt off.**

 **Oh, I do not own the Chronicles of Nick series! Do I own copies of the books, yes. Did I write them? I wish.**

 **Until next time!**

 **Mogey**


	4. Author's Note

Hey, people.

I know this isn't a chapter, but I have to tell you that I will be going on hiatus for roughly a week. I was hoping to update this weekend but I have 3 finals at the beginning of the week, so I will need the weekend to study for them all.

I realize I haven't updated for awhile either. I have been dealing with some mental health issues along with college. I hope you all can understand. I promise updates will be more frequent once finals are all over and I have my life back from college.

And with that, more stories! Yay!

So to preview:

I have a oneshot in the works dedicated to Fairy Tail Angst Week on tumblr that I will be posting here as well. It's a collab piece with a friend of mine. There will also be a new story coming out the end of May that is another collab piece, but I am responsible for the whole writing part of it. There will be art and headcanons posted for it on tumblr when it is released. (Sorry, I know the readers of The Riders Return aren't necessarily interested in this, but it saves me from having to write another one of these.)

In the meantime, I will be working on the new chapters for What was Never Finished and The Riders Return. Outlines have been drawn up so I do know where I was going with them.

For those that are reading TRR, I am planning on having 50 chapters for it, and then I will start planning a sequel. As much as I would like to have it as a forever fic, and having so much more that I want to do with it, it needs to be broken up into multiple fics. I'm kinda hoping for it to be a trilogy, but we will see where the sequel will take us.

And for WWNF, it is still ongoing, and there are many, many things that I still have planned for it. As you all know it is a slow burner and will be just as long as TRR, if not more. Yup, I have that much planned for it.

I hope you all stay tuned for what's in the future and you all continue to read my writing. I greatly appreciate it. But I really must take this time off in order to focus on school.

Feel free to review on this, I will be posting around it.

Until next time,

Mogi


	5. Chapter 4

**Hey! Guess who's still alive after a month of nothing? ME!**

 **Ok, so I know I posted this tiny little thing a couple weeks back maybe? A week? Who knows. But that was unplanned and honestly it was what was able to get me going again. Don't worry, there's a bunch of stuff planned for fics from me over the course of the summer, so stay tuned!**

 **Enjoy the chapter guys!**

* * *

Chapter 4

 _"Momma… why is he so mean?"_

Tears streamed down her face, hiccups and coughs racking her frame as she sobbed into her pillow.

 _"Momma, what did I do?"_

Her room was full of her cries. No one was going to comfort her. The help had been sent home for the weekend and she was all alone. Her father wasn't talking to her, not that he ever did anyways.

 _"Momma…"_

She hugged the pillow to her. The pain radiated from her chest, this knife in her heart was killing her. She didn't understand. Why?

 _"What did I do?"_

She was met with silence.

 _"Why did he have to tear it up?"_

The silence was stifling.

What could she do? She was stuck here, practically imprisoned in this deafening silence.

Lucy cracked her eyes open, looking out into her room as she sniffled and wiped away her tears from her cheeks. Curled around her pillow, she stared out into her room. It was pink and frilly, but at the moment, she wanted nothing more than to have it turn all gray to match the emptiness inside her.

Silence slithered through the room, her occasional hiccup being the only thing to disturb it. Her head hurt and her eyes were sore, never mind what her voice would sound like in the morning. Her father had left her broken, shattered, torn to pieces, much like her picture.

She was finally happy, and it was all torn away in little under five minutes of her talking to her father. How was that even possible? Was it so bad for her to be happy?

* * *

The rest of the weekend continued like that. By Sunday evening, it was almost routine. She would wake up and cry until she was numb again, sit on her bed and stare at the wall. Mealtimes would bring a rough knock on her door, and a plate of food on the ground. At least her father remembered to feed her. Lucy would only pick at it, nibbling around the edges of everything, never finishing. Then after dinner, she would go back to her bed and continue to stare at the wall, dead on the inside. Eventually, she would find herself asleep, only to wake up and find the world no different.

Monday was a blessing when it came. She would be free from the silent prison for the majority of the day.

Lucy looked at herself in the mirror as she was getting ready. Her eyes were hollow and she honestly looked like she was the walking dead. She felt lost, that no one cared. What if everyone was faking at school because they pitied her? Did she even matter to them?

"Lucy, it is time to leave," Daniel announced.

Lucy glanced at her door then back to her reflection. Today was going to be a long one. She straightened herself and put on a brave face. No one was going to find out about this.

"Okay! I'm coming!"

She left the mirror, grabbing her school bag, and left her room. She was going to make it through today, no matter what.

The ride was silent, Daniel keeping his focus on the road, leaving Lucy to her thoughts in the back seat. There weren't many there to begin with, she was trying hard to not think about what happened last Friday. She really just hoped that no one at school asked her about how her dad liked the gift.

* * *

Natsu knew immediately that something was wrong when she walked into the classroom, and Gray sensed it too. Her smile was too bright. He'd seen that smile enough times to know that something wasn't right. Her eyes proved it too, hollow with almost no life in them.

He nudged Gray. "She doesn't look ok. Do ya see it too?"

Gray glanced at her and nodded. "Yeah, somethin's up."

They continued to keep an eye on her, watching as she flinched slightly when one of the boys sitting next to her started yelling at the one across from him. This went on for a few minutes and Natsu could see that she was getting increasingly upset about all the noise, but knew she was too nice to actually say anything about it. She always kept a low profile in class.

With a pair of glares, the boy finally shut up and was quiet for the rest of the period.

Lucy kept to herself like always, letting Natsu walk with her from class to class, but not once was there a word spoken between them. He figured that if she wanted to talk about it, she would, until then he was content to just make sure she was okay.

By the end of the day, Natsu was itching to ask her what was wrong. She kept herself out of the way from everyone, standing on the sidelines when she used to be in the middle of everything. But this was like the days at the beginning of the school year, timid and quiet.

He looked over at her as they walked through the hallway as they followed the crowds to the bus stops. She had her head down and she kept silent the whole time.

Screw it, he was going to ask.

"Hey, uh, Luce?"

Seeing her jump at her own name didn't make him feel any better about this.

"Y-yeah? Wh-what is it?"

Natsu frowned. This was so much unlike her, it hurt to see her like this. And it's only been a day!

"Is everything okay? You've been kinda off today."

He pushed open the door and let her through first. She pushed past him as fast as she could, squeezing by in the doorway. Other people rushed past him before he could let go of the door without it hitting someone in the face.

Lucy was waiting for him at the corner of the sidewalk, hugging herself. She was shifting around, looking extremely uneasy. What was bothering her?

"Lucy?"

Again she flinched. Why was she so scared of her own name?

She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, giving him a brief smile. "I'm sorry, but I have to go. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

And with that, she was gone.

Natsu stood on the sidewalk, watching her disappear around the corner of the building. It hurt to see her like this, he was her friend, and shouldn't she feel like she could share with him what was going on? Wasn't that were friends for?

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She was going through something that much was for certain. Hopefully, it didn't last too long.

* * *

A week went by and still nothing had changed.

Lucy was still avoiding any questions about why she was so out of it and why she was so jumpy. Levy had mentioned that she had a few bruises appear on her back, the bookworm had noticed when they were changing for gym. Natsu's blood had boiled at that, but every time he had tried to bring it up with her, she would evade the question, or completely ignore him. It was getting to the point where Natsu wondered if she would ever go back to the way she was after they became friends.

It was Friday. The last day to talk to her at all until Monday. He wasn't going to let this go.

He pulled her off to the side after school again. They were going to have this talk.

"Okay, Luce, spill. What's been eatin' you the whole week?" He crossed his arms and cocked his head a little, looking genuinely concerned.

Lucy still couldn't stop herself from flinching at the sound of her name. It was no better than Monday. The whole week, all her father had done was summon her to his office and berate her for all these little things. She wasn't dressing properly, her grades weren't good enough, and she didn't spend enough time studying. He would say her name with such loathing, that she was actually beginning to dread it. And now it was the weekend, she didn't know if she could go another night in that silent prison.

"It's nothing real-" she began.

Her pink haired friend cut her off. "No, it ain't nothin', you haven't been yourself all week. All of us have seen it."

She started, and finally looked him in the eye. All Natsu could see there was this...this fear. Her eyes were wide and overly bright, on the verge of tears.

"E-everyone?" she whispered.

He nodded. "Yeah, everyone."

She drew into herself more, making herself small in front of him.

"L-listen…I don't really want to talk about it…" she muttered, eyes downcast.

Natsu sighed and looked away from her, clenching his teeth. There was so much he wanted to ask, but if he pushed her too much she would break right here. He knew what she was going through, he went through it too. It broke him and it took forever to recover from that.

"Okay, you're not gonna talk 'bout it. Cool." He turned away from her to get to the buses. "But, Luce?"

She watched him turn over his shoulder with a concerned stare.

"Just...whatever it is, don't let it break you."

* * *

 **Ok, I know it's not as long as some of you had hoped. I'm trying a slightly different writing style and it's taking a bit to get used to. So bear with me a little bit, ok?**

 **Anyways, I survived my finals, and the mental health problems are being taken care of, and overall I'm in a better place than where I posted the Author's Note chapter thingy. I appreciate all of your concern. But onto the reviews for the actual chapter!**

* * *

 **Akamagerain : Yes! GrayLu brotp is one of my favorites! Glad you enjoyed that part. ^^ And Natsu sure is, and their fight was fun to write too. Just bless Erza. xD**

 **Snavej : Hahahah, you honestly made me laugh xD Writing that scene was really hard, glad you enjoyed!**

 **ClosetPotato : Oh Zeta, how I have missed your caps lock reviews. I alway love them. Keep them coming you dingo! xD**

 **xxIAmTheSkyxx : Ok, lemme say first, holy cow, that was a lot to read for a review and holy crap it was helpful. Thanks so much for the super constructive review, I always love your input on things. :D And thanks again for the beta read!**

* * *

 **Okie dokes, that's a wrap. I don't know when the next update will come, but sooner than this one I promise! It really doesn't take me long to write a chapter, but life happened and made it difficult for anything to get done.**

 **I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, as always, please leave a review! It keeps the inspiration and updates coming!**

 **Until next time,**

 **Mogi**


End file.
